Latest news with #Subcommittee
The Hill
31-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Federal government paying 154K not to work: Report
The federal government is reportedly paying more than 154,000 employees not to report to work under the Trump administration's deferred resignation program. Thousands have been receiving pay since June and will continue to be compensated until the end of fiscal year 2025, according to a report from the The Washington Post. The outlet spoke with two Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officials under the condition of anonymity. The exact number for individual salaries being shelled out remains unknown. OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover told the Post that over 150,000 employees were offered 'a dignified and generous departure' from the federal government. 'It also delivered incredible relief to the American taxpayer. No previous administration has gotten even close to saving American taxpayers this amount of money in such a short amount of time,' Pinover said in a statement. OPM and the White House did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment on the matter. Democrats have openly slammed the deferred resignation program as a wasteful measure. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), ranking member on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has called for an investigation into the layoffs as part of a broader probe in to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'In the absence of reliable information from the Trump Administration regarding DOGE's activities, the -Subcommittee was forced to estimate the costs that DOGE has imposed on the American people in just six months. As a result, the Subcommittee's estimation that DOGE has generated more than $21.7 billion in waste likely represents only a portion of DOGE's true financial impact,' Blumenthal wrote in a Tuesday letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz. The Connecticut Democrat stated that $14.8 billion was wasted under the deferred resignation program which paid almost 200,000 employees not to work for up to eight months. He said $6.1 billion was used on an additional 100,000 employees involuntarily removed from federal service and those who remain on prolonged periods of administrative leave pending separation, according to a minority report for the subcommittee released on Tuesday. 'As an inspector general, it is your duty to root out waste fraud and abuse in the federal programs maintained by the agency that you oversee,' Blumenthal said. 'In light of the Subcommittee's findings, I write to request that you initiate a comprehensive review of DOGE's activities within your agency in order to determine the full scope of costs that DOGE's careless actions have imposed.'
Bangkok Post
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Bangkok Post
Stop harsh punishments in class, experts urge positive discipline
Despite a clear directive from the Thai Ministry of Education banning violent punishment in schools, physical discipline remains a troubling reality in Thai classrooms. A recent case involving a teacher who struck a student 60 times for disobedience has sparked public outrage and renewed calls for reform. Experts say the incident highlights a systemic failure to equip educators with non-violent behavioural management skills. On 7 July 2025, Attapol Anantaworasakul, Chair of the Education Subcommittee at the Consumer Council of Thailand, condemned the continued use of corporal punishment in schools. He stressed that while policies promoting positive discipline exist, many teachers lack the training and judgement needed to implement them effectively. The result is a reliance on outdated punitive methods that can cause physical and psychological harm to students. Current measures to prevent violence in schools are proving ineffective due to insufficient support systems. Although the Ministry has issued a nationwide ban on violent disciplinary actions, many educators remain unaware of alternative approaches. This gap in knowledge and training has led to repeated violations, with little accountability or enforcement. Attapol emphasised that modern education should focus on behavioural guidance that protects children's well-being. He urged the Ministry to accelerate teacher development programmes that promote non-violent discipline and equip educators with tools to manage classroom behaviour constructively. He also called for mental health professionals to be deployed in schools to support both students and teachers in managing stress and preventing conflict. The Education Subcommittee has consistently pushed for stronger protections against violence in schools. It has proposed amendments to the draft National Education Act to ensure all educational institutions are safe spaces—physically and emotionally—for learners. These proposals include establishing welfare and safety systems, safeguarding student rights, and ensuring continuous teacher development in child psychology and brain development. The subcommittee also recommends placing child psychologists and counsellors at the local level to assist teachers in supporting student development. Attapol concluded, 'Violent punishment has no place in today's world. Society must reject these outdated values, and authorities must enforce clear legal measures against excessive discipline to ensure accountability and safety for all students.'
Scoop
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Serbia Needs To Strengthen Effective Torture Prevention Measures, UN Torture Prevention Body Says
Geneva, 24 June 2025 Serbia must take further action to protect people deprived of their liberty from torture and ill-treatment and ensure its national preventive mechanism (NPM) plays an effective and crucial role, experts from the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) said after their first visit to the country. During the mission to Serbia from 15 to 21 June, the SPT delegation conducted unannounced visits to prisons, remand centres, police cells, as well as care homes for the elderly and children. 'While we acknowledge that steps are being taken to improve the rights of people deprived of their liberty, shortcomings must be addressed, specifically in the areas of criminal justice and social care,' said Massimiliano Bagaglini, head of the SPT delegation. 'The national preventive body has an important role to play in this process; therefore, it is vital that the mechanism is independent, well-resourced and effective.' The SPT delegation conducted private and confidential interviews with those detained or deprived of their liberty and officials working in various facilities. The delegation also met with Government officials, the Protector of Citizens (Ombudsperson) and its NPM unit, civil society representatives and UN agencies. The SPT delegation also carried out joint visits with the Serbian NPM to support their work. 'We observed that many individuals, including children, spend extended periods in pretrial detention under restrictive conditions, which may increase the risk of ill-treatment,' Bagaglini added. 'Institutions for people with disabilities were also a concern for the delegation, and more measures are needed to protect these people from ill-treatment.' The Subcommittee will submit a confidential report to the Government of Serbia with its observations and recommendations on preventing torture and ill-treatment of people deprived of their liberty. As with all other States, it encourages Serbia to make this report public following the visit. The SPT delegation was composed of the following members of the Subcommittee: Massimiliano Bagaglini, Head of Delegation (Italy), Vasiliki Artinopoulou (Greece), Kalliopi Kambanella (Cyprus), Nika Kvaratskhelia (Georgia), as well as two Human Rights Officers from the SPT Secretariat.
Coin Geek
25-06-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
US floats crypto market structure ‘principles,' no bill yet
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The United States Senate released its 'principles' for digital asset market structure legislation, but a subcommittee hearing proved a dud when virtually no one showed up. The Senate Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Digital Assets held a hearing Tuesday on proposed crypto market structure legislation, although that legislation doesn't yet exist. Ahead of the hearing, the Subcommittee released a set of market structure 'principles,' the majority of which are fairly anodyne. These include clearly distinguishing digital asset commodities from securities, assigning distinct lanes of regulatory authority for each (while telling other federal agencies to back off), protecting consumer funds during bankruptcies, and ensuring the right to self-custody digital assets. There are also recommendations to avoid applying the same rules to centralized and decentralized entities, with additional carveouts for non-custodial software platforms (think coin mixers like Tornado Cash). The House of Representatives offered a similar carveout to decentralized finance (DeFi) operators in their chamber's Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which passed through two House committees last week. Addressing the thorny issues of crypto-based money laundering and sanctions evasion, the principles suggest efforts to rein in these transgressions 'can and should be targeted and pro-innovation.' At the same time, regulators should make it clear to banks that 'many crypto-related activities are permissible for banks and other financial institutions, provided they do not threaten the safety and soundness of the institution.' The Senate also suggests the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should allow 'certain digital asset fundraising' that would otherwise fall afoul of the Howey test for identifying securities. The idea here is to allow fledgling crypto projects the ability to conduct initial coin offerings (ICO) to help get these projects off the ground, although history suggests many of these projects don't have serious ambitions beyond raising money from investors. Is it still a hearing if nobody's listening? Despite the hype, Tuesday's hearing was a sparsely attended affair, with only five of the 11 members of the Digital Asset Subcommittee present. Those fab five included GENIUS author Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), and Dave McCormick (R-PA). The lone Dem in attendance was Maryland's Angela Alsobrooks, who, like each of her GOP counterparts, holds a 'strongly supportive' rating from the Stand With Crypto astroturf group). So, this was definitely not a panel composed of senators looking to learn more about an unfamiliar subject. The five senators were almost outnumbered by their four invited witnesses, including representatives from Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and Multicoin Capital, along with former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behnam and Wharton School director Sarah Hammer. Trouble was, they were so uniform in their messaging that the only real difference of opinion was whether the Senate needs to pass market structure legislation yesterday or last week. It may have been the lack of a draft bill that deterred more Dem senators from showing up. Or the belief that, following the bait-and-switch amendment brouhaha over the Senate's stablecoin legislation, the majority's going to do what it wants regardless. Or simply resignation by those who'd prefer to see a more balanced viewpoint presented to the public on such an important matter. Back to the top ↑ A House (and Senate) divided The Senate may be feeling a sense of urgency due to the House being much further ahead on the market structure front. And while President Trump has urged the House to approve the Senate's GENIUS stablecoin legislation posthaste, House leadership appears willing to defy both the president and the Senate. On Monday, House Financial Services Committee (FSC) Chair French Hill (R-AR) was decidedly noncommittal when pressed on whether he'd follow Trump's 'advice' or pursue what appears to be the House's preferred strategy of coupling their own stablecoin legislation (STABLE) with their market structure bill (CLARITY). On Tuesday, Punchbowl News quoted Sen. Hagerty emphasizing Trump's desire for the House to pass a 'clean' version of GENIUS, saying, 'I don't think we should take a chance of losing this win right now.' Sen. Moreno said GENIUS had undergone '77 different versions' before its passage last week, and 'we don't want to go through that again.' Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) concurred, saying, 'it was challenging enough to get to yes' on GENIUS without trying to bolt market structure language to it. But Politico reported late Tuesday that House leaders think they could have a stable/structure combo on the floor for a vote as early as the week of July 7, although sources said this could be delayed as both chambers wrestle with passing Trump's 'big, beautiful' spending bill. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) appeared open to the concept of a combo stable/structure bill, claiming Tuesday that the crypto sector supports such a move. But Scalise cautioned that GOP leadership had yet to make any 'final decision.' Regarding GENIUS, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) said the House was still 'assessing things' and expressed hope that 'we can come to some kind of agreement.' But Wagner added that 'we like our House version [STABLE] a great deal.' Back to the top ↑ De-debanking still a thing On Monday, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issued new guidance expunging the concept of 'reputational risk' from the list of items its members need to consider when 'evaluating the activities' of the state member banks and bank holding companies they supervise. The crypto sector has long raged against Operation Choke Point 2.0, the conspiracy theory that claims big banks conspired to deny digital asset operators access to banking services. The evidence to date suggests any reluctance by banks had more to do with crypto operators' unwillingness to conform to practices other sectors had long made peace with, but complaining is easier than complying. The Fed's move follows similar guidance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in February. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) followed suit in March. Around the same time, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced legislation to deter the 'weaponization of federal banking agencies' by prohibiting regulators from considering reputational risk. Similar legislation was filed in the House of Representatives in April. But as America's recent intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict demonstrated, President Trump doesn't enjoy sitting on the sidelines while others make headlines. On June 24, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Trump was considering issuing an executive order threatening banks that decline to accept controversial customers with punitive responses from the federal government. Individual states, particularly those run by Republican administrations, are already blacklisting banks from state government contracts if they're deemed to be declining customers affiliated with GOP-friendly causes. Oklahoma, for example, has cracked the whip on JPMorgan (NASDAQ: JPM), Bank of America (NASDAQ: BAC), and Wells Fargo (NASDAQ: WFC) for allegedly discriminating against fossil fuel companies. (Oklahoma is among the nation's top oil- and gas-producing states.) Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was interrogated by the House FSC on Tuesday and Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chairman of the committee's Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence, asked whether the Fed's new 'reputational' guidance was based on any new info. Powell said no, saying only that the change was 'the right thing to do.' Back to the top ↑ Powell's okay with stablecoins. Other central bankers, not so much During Powell's House grilling, he defended his decision to hold interest rates steady until the full impact of Trump's tariffs is understood. However, he did offer a thumbs-up for another of Trump's pet projects, namely, efforts to regulate stablecoins. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) brought up the subject of stablecoin legislation, leading Powell to declare that 'it's a great thing that bills are moving. We need a stablecoin framework.' Both the House and Senate bills are focused on so-called 'payment stablecoins,' aka tokens used to purchase goods and services rather than just funding swaps for other tokens. But a new report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) casts doubt on the belief that stablecoins can ever take the place of fiat currency. The BIS report, dubbed 'The next-generation monetary and financial system,' hails tokenization platforms focused on central bank reserves, commercial bank money and government bonds. However, the BIS claims stablecoins 'exhibit some attributes of money' but ultimately 'fall short of the requirements to be the mainstay of the monetary system' and thus 'may at best serve a subsidiary role' in global finance. The report identifies three key tests: integrity, singleness, and elasticity. Stablecoins' pseudonymous nature has led to widespread use in illicit activities, thus performing 'badly' on the integrity front. Stablecoins 'often trade at varying exchange rates, undermining singleness,' while their elasticity is undermined by their 'cash-in-advance constraint,' the requirement for full upfront payment by holders to add additional tokens to the existing supply. To help modernize finance, the BIS urges central banks to 'articulate a vision of which key features of today's financial system must be replicated in a tokenized ecosystem' and 'provide the necessary regulatory and legal frameworks to ensure the safe and sound development and adoption of tokenized finance.' Central banks can also provide 'the basic foundational assets and platforms required for a tokenized financial system' while fostering 'public-private partnerships to encourage joint experimentation and coalesce industry efforts.' Back to the top ↑ Visa/Mastercard circling Circle Not everybody seems to have gotten the BIS memo. Just one day after announcing plans for a new stablecoin (FIUSD) and a stablecoin-issuing platform for its banking partners, U.S. fintech outfit Fiserv (NASDAQ: FI) announced a new deal with Mastercard (NASDAQ: MA) to 'accelerate mainstream stablecoin adoption.' The deal will see the credit card giant integrate FIUSD 'across a range of Mastercard products and services.' These include allowing merchants to settle transactions in FIUSD, issuing stablecoin-linked cards for use wherever Mastercard is accepted, allowing Fiserv clients to connect to Mastercard's Multi-Token Network (MTN), and bringing 'off-the-shelf support for programmable, on-chain commerce for banks.' Fiserv's shares initially shot up on Tuesday's news, although they later surrendered some of those gains to close at $172.66 (+1.25%). But USDC-issuer Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL), identified as one of Fiserv's stablecoin platform partners on Monday, saw its shares take a double-digit tumble on Tuesday, closing at $222.65 (-15.5%). Circle's decline was partly blamed on Compass Point analysts, whose initial coverage tagged the stock with a 'neutral' rating and a $205 target. Compass Point cited Circle's limited distribution partners—exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance—compared with the much wider reach of traditional finance (TradFi) operators, many of whom have either already launched their own stablecoin offerings or have signaled their intention to do so down the road. Circle's limited revenue-generation capacity and overstuffed market cap have also come in for criticism. Before Tuesday's decline, Circle's shares were trading at 100x its earnings, dwarfing the multiples of more established firms (including Mastercard). Speaking of credit card giants, Visa CEO Ryan McInerney went on CNBC this week and declared that his company has for a long time been 'modernizing our own settlement infrastructure with stablecoins' in anticipation of Congress passing bills like GENIUS. Visa has 'a whole host of innovations that we plan to deploy around the world embracing stablecoins.' As if echoing Compass Point's analysis, McInerney noted Visa's network of 150 million merchants and billions of customers, adding that 'if stablecoins become a mode of currency that people want to embrace around the world, we will enable that on the Visa system and scale that to those billions of endpoints.' Back to the top ↑ DWF keeps boosting USD1 After weeks of stasis, USDC's market cap saw an uptick on Tuesday, rising from just under $61.2 billion on Sunday to over $61.9 billion. Over the same span, market leader Tether (USDT) saw its own cap grow by $600 million to a new record high of $156.4 billion. Not enjoying similar gains is USD1, the stablecoin issued this spring by the Trump family-controlled DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLF). After spiking to $2.2 billion in April following a $2 billion USD1 purchase by Abu Dhabi's state-run MGX investment fund, USD1's cap has been stuck in neutral, despite endorsements from the likes of Justin Sun and his affiliated TRON network and HTX digital asset exchange. That could change following the announcement of a 'strategic liquidity partnership' between the Bitget exchange and market-maker DWF Labs. The deal will see DWF provide 'institutional-grade liquidity support' for USD1 in the Seychelles-based Bitget's spot and derivatives markets. Bitget is the third-ranked exchange in terms of trading volume. DWF managing partner Andrei Grachev claimed DWF was helping to sure that tokens like USD1 'function reliably across trading environments.' The DWF-Bitget partnership claims to involve 'a deeper alignment' between the parties 'to support the long-term credibility and growth of stable, tradable digital assets.' This isn't DWF's first USD1 tie-in, having bought $1 million worth of the stablecoin in April to build six DeFi liquidity pools. Around the same time, DWF bought $25 million worth of WLF's governance token WLFI. Shortly thereafter, the company, which has been accused of wash trading tokens on other exchanges on behalf of its customers, announced plans to open a New York office as part of its 'strategic expansion to the United States.' While the impact of the DWF/Bitget deal on USD1 remains to be seen, President Trump's claims of having brought the Israel-Iran conflict to an uneasy peace gave a significant boost to the fiat prices of prominent tokens like BTC. Token prices had plummeted over the weekend after Trump confirmed the U.S. had joined the conflict on Israel's side but word of the ceasefire reversed this trend. Also enjoying a rise was the president's own memecoin $TRUMP, which lost ~10% of its value following America's bombing of Iran's nuclear sites. After bottoming out below $8.50, $TRUMP has since risen to $9.25. Blessed are the peacemakers and/or those who buy the dip? Back to the top ↑ Watch: Breaking down solutions to blockchain regulation hurdle title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Saba Yemen
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Saba Yemen
Summer schools' products at exhibition hosted by Sana'a City
Sana'a - Saba: The Subcommittee for Summer Activities and Courses for Female Students in the Capital Secretariat held the central closing exhibition of the activities' outcomes and an honorary event for the winners of the cultural curricular, Quran recitation, and creative talent competitions under the slogan "Knowledge and Jihad." The exhibition included photos, models, handicrafts, and various craft products, reflecting the advanced level of the female students and their creativity and talents. At the honoring ceremony, Ibtisam Al-Mahtouri, head of the Summer Schools Subcommittee at the Secretariat, praised the efforts made to ensure the success of the summer school programs and objectives, and the quality of the activities that contributed to honing the students' skills. She urged the students to continue their education and knowledge throughout the year and to gain divine guidance. She commended the community's engagement with the summer schools this year, which reflected awareness of their importance and role in protecting young people from the dangers of soft warfare. At the conclusion, which included hymns, poems, an operetta, and an expressive sketch, the top three winners in the curricular, cultural, and Quranic recitation competitions were honored with certificates of appreciation and in-kind prizes. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (Local)
